NATURAL HISTORY · CATALOGUE RECORD
Long-tailed Bat
Chalinolobus tuberculatus (Forster, 1844)
Source-backed taxonomic record
Accepted species in Catalogue of Life’s 11 September 2026 base release. This preserves the source classification and available supporting data; it is not a completed species monograph.
Scotophilus tuberculatus
GH Ford · Public domain · Image sourceProvider-generated thumbnail requested at 800 pixels; no local editing Local WebP display rendition; resized without cropping.
Open encyclopedia reference
Chalinolobus tuberculatus, known more commonly as the New Zealand long-tailed bat, the long-tailed wattle bat or pekapeka tou-roa, is a small insectivorous mammal within the genus Chalinolobus. The long-tailed bat is one of 7 species belonging to the genus Chalinolobus, which are commonly referred to as "wattled bats," "pied bats" and "long-tailed bats." The genus Chalinolobus is characterised by fleshy lobes located on their lower lips and at the bottom of their ears. Some zoologists claim there is overlap between the Chalinolobus genus and the Glauconycteris genus.
The long-tailed bat is one of two extant and three total terrestrial mammals endemic to the islands of New Zealand. The other extant species being the New Zealand lesser short-tailed bat (Mystacina tuberculata). The long-tailed bat is closely related to 6 other species of wattled bats found in Australasia, namely Gould's wattled bat (Chalinolobus gouldi), the largest of the species belonging to the Chalinolobus genus. The long-tailed bat won the 2021 Bird of the Year competition in New Zealand, despite not being a bird.
Wikipedia contributors, New Zealand long-tailed bat; see linked history · CC BY-SA 4.0 . Plain-text lead excerpt, at most 180 words; no infobox or later sections Retrieved 2026-10-05T04:29:40.549342+00:00. This reference remains separate from the taxonomic record.
Identity & source status
- Scientific name
- Chalinolobus tuberculatus (Forster, 1844)
- Name authority
- (Forster, 1844)
- Common name
- Long-tailed Bat
- Rank
- species
- Accepted status
- accepted
- Kingdom
- Animalia
- Phylum
- Chordata
- Class
- Mammalia
- Order
- Chiroptera
- Family
- Vespertilionidae
- Genus
- Chalinolobus
- Extinction status
- Recorded extant
Classification family tree
Nested taxonomic groups from the source. This is not a direct-ancestor chain, a dated evolutionary tree or a phylogenetic reconstruction.
- domainEukaryota (Chatton, 1925) Whittaker & Margulis, 1978
- kingdomAnimalia
- phylumChordata
- subphylumVertebrata
- infraphylumGnathostomata
- parvphylumOsteichthyes
- megaclassTetrapoda
- classMammalia Linnaeus, 1758
- subclassTheria Parker & Haswell, 1897
- infraclassEutheria Gill, 1872
- orderChiroptera Blumenbach, 1779
- suborderYangochiroptera Koopman, 1984
- superfamilyVespertilionoidea Gray, 1821
- familyVespertilionidae Gray, 1821
- subfamilyVespertilioninae Gray, 1821
- tribeVespertilionini Gray, 1821
- genusChalinolobus Peters, 1867
- speciesChalinolobus tuberculatus (Forster, 1844)
Close classified relatives
These entries share the source’s genus, Chalinolobus. They are not necessarily the closest relatives established by molecular evidence.
| Species | Classification | Source status |
|---|---|---|
| Chocolate Lobe-lipped BatChalinolobus morio (Gray, 1841) | VespertilionidaeChordata | Accepted speciesRecorded extant |
Names & synonyms
Names explicitly linked to this accepted taxon in the source. Synonymy can change with revision.
| Recorded name | Source status |
|---|---|
| Vespertilio tuberculatus Forster, 1844 Forster, 1844 | synonym |
Documented distribution
Source distribution statements, not a complete range map. A listed locality is not necessarily a place of origin.
Source literature & publication evidence
References attached to this source record, including nomenclatural citations where supplied. This is a selected bibliography; abbreviated citations remain in the source’s form.
- https://www.itis.gov/servlet/SingleRpt/SingleRpt?search_topic=TSN&search_value=631941 Source fields: Taxon.tsv dwc:namePublishedIn, Taxon.tsv dcterms:references
Origins, evidence & remaining research
Name authority and publication references document nomenclature where the source supplies it. They do not establish evolutionary origins or the earliest fossil occurrence.
Specimen-level evidence, morphology, ecological research, phylogenetic studies, a comprehensive bibliography and a located literary passage have not yet been compiled for this record.
Dataset citation & attribution
This exact taxon in ChecklistBank · Catalogue of Life 2026-09-11
Catalogue of Life 2026-09-11; dataset 316321; doi:10.48580/dgz5n. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ . Retrieved 5 October 2026.
Stable key: col:THFQ. Classification follows source parent identifiers. English common names may vary by region.